


i found love where it wasn't supposed to be (right in front of me)

by youngchopsticks



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Farm/Ranch, Fluff, Friendly Rivalry, Multi, its very gay, theres gonna be horses, they work on a farm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-06-08 16:32:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15247338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youngchopsticks/pseuds/youngchopsticks
Summary: "Right up until this point, I didn't even know horses could not like somebody," Ava huffed at the horse she was trying to ride."I think it just doesn't like you." Sara smirked.orau where ava’s parents offer her a job working at her uncle and aunt’s farm in the countryside before she goes off to college. there she meets sara in all her country girl glory and she really shouldnt have any lasting relationships because it was always going to be temporary but damn no one should ever look that good in a tank top and plaid.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> a new multi chapter au featuring city girl ava going to work in a farm, it's lighthearted and fun and gay.

Ava Sharpe has never known anything other than living in a city.

An only child of parents that were well-known businessmen. They brought her home to a small apartment big enough for only the three of them. Since then Ava’s moved two more times until her parents bought a decent sized, two story penthouse that housed her for most of her life.

She grew up in the middle of the city, the view from her bedroom was always at least ten stories down to a busy, bustling street. She grew up with the convenience of having a corner store a block away from her home and all other amenities a bike ride away.

So it was a surprise when one night after dinner, her mom sat her down in their living room and talked to her about her aunt and uncle who lived in the countryside. 

“Ava, dear, do you remember your Uncle Lawrence and Aunt Petunia?” Her mother asked.

“Of course, mother, they come every third Christmas and gift me knitted socks,”

Her mom smiles encouragingly, “Glad to hear that, well dear, your father and I have been talking and we have a proposition to make,”

“What kind of proposition?” It was Ava’s turn to ask curiously. 

“Your Aunt Petunia reached out to me a few days ago and since your cousin Julia has moved out and married, their farm has been running slow lately,”

“Where are you going with this?”

“And I know you’re a bit low on paying for your first year of college because you bought a car, so your father and I agreed to pay the rest of your balance if you work at Uncle Lawrence and Aunt Petunia’s farm this summer,”

Ava’s eyes turned wide, she knew from very early on that even though her parents would have no problem paying for her college, she wanted to pay it herself. That’s why she’s worked hard for a lot of scholarships and worked two jobs during school year and off the school year. She managed to collect enough but decided to splurge on a nice car. She knew that if she worked this summer she would maybe have enough money for her first year but her parents’ proposition caught her attention.

“So it won’t be you paying for me right? It’s like any other job.”

“Yes, dear, we’re going to pay if you actually work over there and help them.”

“May I have time to think it over?”

“Sure, just give us an answer by the end of the week alright?”

“Alright, good night mother.” She stood up from the couch and also gave a curt nod to her dad that was reading a book on the kitchen island, “Father.”

And that’s how Ava Sharpe, city girl, ended up in a very rural countryside of a small town in Texas.

-

Her flight over to George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston was uneventful. She spent most of the flight reading one of her new books that her father had gifted that she never really got around to reading. 

When she got off the plane, she noticed that it was already night. She’d scheduled an afternoon plane but the two hour delay made her arrive later in the evening. Ava made her way through the unfamiliar terminals and tried to follow the crowd to the baggage claim area. She brought a medium sized luggage for the clothes she’d need for the three months she’d be spending over here. Her mother had fussed that her clothes wouldn’t fit in the countryside, but she promised she’d make it work. 

Finding her aunt and uncle wasn’t a heavy feat at all because as soon as she went outside the gate, her aunt held a sign that had her name on it. 

Ava acknowledged them and thought that she had always found their characters to be quite eccentric. 

While her parents gave her her tall and lean shape, her aunt and uncle were the total opposite of them. Her dad always had a clean shave and his hair was immaculate, the clothes he wore were always fitted. Her mom was quite the same, she was dressed to accompany her dad’s style - a petite dress or linen pants and a blouse.

Her uncle had a round face with a cowboy mustache and a beard that covered most of his neck, his blue and green plaid shirt somehow doesn’t match the jeans he was wearing at all, the outfit was topped with a cowboy hat and Ava had to bite back a cringe for when she saw him. Her aunt clashed with his outfit as well, she was wearing a floral yellow dress that seemed one size too small for her, with a red belt around her waist. 

Before Ava could further analyze the comparison between her parents’ outfits and theirs, her aunt had moved from the place she was to Ava’s side a bit too quickly. 

“Aw Ava! Look at you! You’ve grown so tall and I like what you’ve done with your hair,” Her aunt put her arms around her.

“Pleasure to meet you again,” Ava let her be touched even though her own mother tended to withdraw from the physical contact. 

“Pah! Cut the formalities kid, yer parents ain’t here,” Her uncle laughed deeply while patting her back. 

Ava tried to give them her best smile to be polite, she let her uncle take her luggage as they walked to the parking lot. 

“You ever rode a truck, Avers?” Her uncle asked when they stopped at a big, bright red pickup truck.

Ava tried not to mention how her uncle butchered her name feeling like it’s probably going to happen often so she should get used to it, “Not that I remember, Uncle Lawrence.”

“This’d be your first then! Watch your step though, she’s a big’un,” He followed up.

The ride to their farm was long, and Ava felt her weariness from her flight catch up with her so she dozed off after half an hour of short conversations with her uncle and aunt. When she woke up, it was to her Uncle Lawrence calling out her name. 

“Wake up, Lil’ Aver. We’re here.” 

Ava let out a soft groan at the nickname that her uncle hadn’t gotten rid off since she was young. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and clicked her seatbelt off, she grabbed her backpack and went to move out of the car. Somehow, she forgot that she rode a truck that was higher than her so she immediately lost her footing and fell down on the ground. 

“Woah there, you okay, kiddo?” Her uncle dropped her luggage and went to help her up.

“I’m fine, Uncle. I didn’t account for the height of the truck.” Ava took his outstretched hand and brushed herself off. 

Her uncle did a take on her and their eyes both found the scratch on Ava’s elbow that was now bleeding. 

“You hit the rock o’er there, let Nia check it out will you? I’ll go ahead and take your luggage and bag up to the second floor,” Lawrence pat her shoulder and led her to the house. 

Ava finally looked up from her scratch to find that she was in front of a fairly large sized land. There were long pastures to the right and left of her view, with herds of cows in the distance, several large red colored barns and finally the family home that she had to walk about thirty feet into. 

When she entered the home, she didn’t expect it to be quite as big as it was. She was expecting a homey, lived in, standard two-story home but her aunt and uncle’s place was much bigger than that. She walked through the foyer to the right and saw an archway that led to a living room, the stairs were on the wall behind it. The dining room was connected to a fairly long hallway that Ava presumed to be a kitchen. The main living room was sunken down a level that had small steps leading to it, there were at least three couches, and four armchairs, and Ava’s convinced that the TV that was mounted on the wall was bigger than her. 

While aweing at the house, her aunt had appeared from the long hallway and returned with a first-aid kit, “I told your uncle that we should’ve taken the sedan instead of the truck, he insisted that he wanted to give you the whole countryside feel,”

Ava chuckled and let her aunt take care of her scratch, “It’s not a problem, Aunt Petunia, it was mostly my fault really,” 

“Nonsense.” Her aunt huffed as she finished bandaging it, “We’ll get Gary to give you an official tour of the house tomorrow, it can be quite a maze at times.”

“You have other people living here?”

“Yes, Gary’s one of our riders, usually we have more because this is a six bedroom house, but it’s the summer,” 

“I see,” 

“I’ll take you to your room, dear, you have a few to choose from,” Her aunt gestured for them to take the stairs and Ava let her aunt lead the way upstairs.

The second floor wasn’t quite large as the first floor, Ava noted. The left led to another small dining room and a mini kitchen, and beyond that a couple of doors of probably bedrooms. And to her right there was a closed off hallway of three doors. 

“Lawrence and I are in the master’s bedroom downstairs, the hallway to the left, past the kitchen is Julia’s room and one of the bigger bedrooms that has a connected bathroom. On the right, the first door is to the library-” Her aunt faced her and whispered, “- It really is the game room where the kids hangout,”

Ava gave her an amused smile and wondered just how many kids they had regularly. 

“The second door is the bathroom and the last door is the only bedroom that has a balcony. The rest of the bedrooms are on the other side of the house, we’d prefer it if you were in this part so if you’d need anything you’re close enough to our room,”

“Thank you,” Ava looked through both sides and decided to choose the room with a connected bathroom, “I’ll take the room beside Julia’s.”

“Good choice,” Her aunt helped roll her luggage through the hallway, and Ava saw that the bedrooms were mounted up and she helped carry her bag on the three steps of stairs. 

The two doors were beside a little seating area with a cupboard filled with books, “Julia used this space to study as most of her room is filled with other things,”

Ava nodded as her aunt opened the bedroom door beside the cupboards. The room was carpeted unlike all the other wood floor parts of the house. It had lavender walls, the queen sized bed was in the middle and there was a big dresser and desk on her left while her left had the bathroom door and a plant. 

“The room is nice, Aunt Petunia. I wonder why Father and Mother never insisted on us coming down here instead of you always coming up to us,”

“Well, that’s a story for another time, dear, I imagine you must be tired.”

As soon as her aunt said that, an unwarranted yawn came out of her and her aunt laughed in response, “Sorry, I guess I mistook how tired I actually am,”

“It’s no problem, sweetheart. If you need anything, we’re a floor below,”

“Thank you,”

“Since tomorrow is Sunday, Lawrence and I will be going to church early in the morning until the late afternoon so feel free to wake up whenever, Gary knows to show you around when you wake up.”

Ava nodded at that and was a bit relieved when she wouldn’t be working on the first day she got here. Her aunt was about to leave the room when she turned back and said, “And Ava, despite what my sister told you about you coming here, we want you to genuinely have fun here and not think of it as a regular job,”

“Understood,”

Her aunt smiled at her one more time before closing the door. 

Ava sighed and looked around the room. She opened her suitcase to take a shirt and shorts to sleep in. She decided to forego a shower, choosing instead to wash her face and brush her teeth only due to her exhaustion.

She finally turned off the light and went to sleep. 

-

The next day, Ava woke up to the sunlight directly streaming to her face. She realized that she forgot to close the blinds and the although she usually awoke to the chime of her phone alarm, she also realized that her phone’s probably out of battery. 

Deciding not to delay her day, she got up and walked to her bag to fish out her phone charger to plug her phone in. After her phone is charged, Ava took a quick shower to freshen up. She looked at her clothes and put on jeans and a t-shirt. 

The second she walked out of the room there was already a voice talking to her, “Oh! You’re awake!”

She looked to the desk that was against the wall and there was a guy, probably about her age, sitting on the corner of the desk. She chose not to comment on his cheery nature or the perfectly good chair he could’ve sat in.

“You must be Gary,”

“Yes! I am Gary, nice to meet you,” Gary got off the desk and held out his hand, Ava took it and gave a firm shake.

“Ava, and likewise.” 

Gary smiled in response and took back his hand. 

Ava looked at him, he was wearing pastel blue shorts and a white polo shirt. He had a cap on too. 

“Cool! Well, I’m going to give you a tour of the place first, then I’ll show you what you’ll be doing. That cool?”

“You said cool twice.” 

He shoved his hands in his pockets and pursed his lips, “Uh, well, is that okay then?”

“Lead the way.” 

“Cool,” Gary jumped the three step down and Ava wondered how expansive his vocabulary really is. 

Gary took her around the parts of the house by opening each room, and giving Ava a short description of the rooms. Ava kept quiet and took it all in. When they reached the long hallway on the first floor, Gary turned back to her.

“I love this hallway, there’s so many secret doors! Well they’re not really a secret but they’re fun to explore, most of the stuff here were from the original house,” 

Ava nodded and looked around, “Is that the basement?” She asked when there was a door under a flight of stairs.

“Nope! The basement is at the end of the hallway, it’s where my room is,” 

At the end of the hallway there were stairs leading up and leading down, Gary led them up and explained that it was the ‘laundry’ area.

“I know you’re probably used to a washing machine but Lawrence and Nia doesn’t have one, so you’re gonna have to hand wash your clothes and hang them up here,” 

The stairs led to an open balcony that revealed several clotheslines.

“Wanna know an efficient way to wash your clothes? Take them to the shower with you,” 

Ava didn’t respond.

“Okay, time to show you the basement!” 

The basement was very different to the upstairs, while everything upstairs were suited in what probably was her aunt and uncle’s taste, the basement looked like a bachelor loft. 

“I know what you’re thinking, and yes, Nia and Lawrence did not actually decorate the basement,”

“I can see that.” Ava took it all in, the walls were painted black and white and the couches were leather. 

“Once upon a time this area was only a kitchen hence why there’s so many pipes around, but Nia and Lawrence wanted the boys and girls that lived here to be seperated so all the guys chipped in and got this place decorated,”

“Why do you live here? Why does my aunt and uncle house so many kids?” Ava asked.

Gary’s eyes widened and didn’t meet her eyes when he answered her question, “Parents send troubled kids here, most of the kids that live here are on a rehabilitation, sort of.” 

“Even you?”

“No, not really. My parents are just really busy and rather than hiring babysitters they just sent me here,” Gary explained.

“I didn’t know this.” Ava began to question why her parents have never mentioned that her aunt and uncle did this, she always thought that they just ran a farm, “So what? People come here to work on the farm?”

“Essentially yes, during the school year we also go to school but I graduated last month so,”

“Why don’t you leave?”

“I decided to just stick around full time,” 

“You’re not going to college?” 

“Oh I am, I’ll be going to University of Houston, downtown. It’s only an hour drive,” Gary smiled.

Ava nodded and took one last glance around. When her aunt and uncle came for Christmas, she never engaged in active conversation with them because her parents didn’t too. She didn’t know why her parents would keep this sort of thing from her.

“If you’re done with the questions, we can move on?”

“You’re the tour guide,” 

“Alright, let’s go outside,” 

Rather than going out from the front, Gary led them to the back and they went up to the backyard. Ava saw a big pool and a nice porch. On the porch, Ava saw a rainbow flag hung up on the window and wondered how she could’ve missed that yesterday. 

“Why is there a rainbow flag hung up?” Ava asked Gary as he was fiddling with the lock.

“Oh, Julia hung it up. A lot of the kids here are yanno, yea, I’m bi myself,” Gary bit his lip, “You’re not homophobic are you?”

“Me? No. I’m gay,” Ava said and felt a sort of pride for her aunt and uncle. She knew the stereotype among Southerners and never bothered to come out to them. Then again she never really had an active relationship with them anyway.

“Oh cool!”

He opened up a gate and led her out to the field. There were the barns that she saw yesterday along with several other buildings scattered around. There were pastures and wheat fields, and Ava saw horse stalls too. There was a windmill at a distance and a wood fence surrounded the area. 

“Isn’t it cool?”

“Is the only adjective you know of is ‘cool’?” Ava scoffed but gave a small smile at the end to make sure he knew that it was a joke.

Gary caught the smile and gave her a laugh. He showed her around the place and the buildings, Ava would never admit it but she was actually excited for her to start working around the place. She’d never done these sorts of things before and she looked forward to it.

They reached back around to the backyard and Gary put his hands on his waist, “Phew, well, that was all I could show you. I’ll start showing you how to do the stuff like collecting eggs and milk, and riding a horse, tomorrow,” 

“Thank you, Gary.” Ava wiped the sweat off her forehead and followed Gary back inside. 

He led her to the kitchen and gave her a bottle of water, Ava chugged it not realizing how thirsty she is - or hungry. She hadn’t had food since the pack of peanuts they gave her on the plane. 

Just as she was about to ask Gary for breakfast, she could hear the doorbell ring. 

“Isn’t it too early for Nia and Lawrence to be home?” Ava asked. 

“Yes it is, let’s go check who it is,” 

Ava followed Gary to the front door and when he opened it, there was a guy wearing a long coat and a red tie leaning on the door. He smiled at Gary but gave a questioning look when his eyes landed on Ava. 

“Morning Luv, who’s the newbie?” He asked

“Hey Constantine, this is Ava,”

“Ava, Nia and Lawrence’s niece?” 

“The one and only,” Gary answered. 

“Pleased to meet you, I’m Constantine,” He gave her a salute.

“Hello,” Ava replied. 

Gary looked back and forth at them and sensed the tension, Ava didn’t know why but he was giving off a very weird vibe to her.

“Ava, Constantine runs a chicken farm in the neighbourhood,” 

Ava nodded at the information but the explanation didn’t give a reason as to why he was here. 

“Well, I’ve come to collect Gary because we’re all going to go to town to have breakfast at waffle house, you’re welcome to join,” 

Ava didn’t want to ask who the ‘all’ he was referring to was, and truthfully she was still tired from yesterday’s travel so she was about to decline when Gary interrupted her thoughts.

“Please come! You can meet everyone there,”

“Uh, maybe next time. I’m still tired from yesterday,” Ava said.

“Aw well if you need anything, call me, okay?” Gary handed his phone to her and Ava quickly typed in her number. 

“Have fun.” She closed the door and saw them drive off from the window before going back up to her room. 

She was halfway up the stairs before she heard another doorbell, she sighed and went back to the door. When she opened it she was expecting Gary to try and convince her but was met with a girl instead.

“You’re not Gary,” She commented when Ava opened the door.

“You are correct, I’m Ava.” 

“Julia’s cousin?”

“Yep.” 

“Huh, do you know where Gary went?” She asked.

“He went with some guy called Constantine,”

“Ah that fucker, I told him I was going to drive Gary,” The girl shook her head, “I wouldn’t mind driving you instead though,”

Ava squinted her eyes at her, was she flirting with her? 

“I already told them I wasn’t going to come,”

The girl sighed and shrugged, “It was worth a shot, see you later then!”

Ava didn’t get a chance to ask for a name before she was running off to her car. She didn’t close the door until she drove off, something about her intrigued Ava and hopefully that wasn’t the last time she would see her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you enjoy this chapter!!

Chapter 2

_Generally dry today. Temperatures are warm, but typical for May weather--right there in the low 90s with Feels Like temps around 100._

Ava turned away from the weather forecast on the small tv in the kitchen. She was dressed in the jeans she wore yesterday and an old camp shirt that she didn’t mind getting dirty. 

Her aunt had told her during dinner to be ready for the day by six in the morning, waking up early was no problem for Ava. She usually went for a run around her block at that time anyway. 

She set down her coffee cup and little plate in the sink, making a note to wash it up later. 

When she went down the stairs, she was greeted with her uncle in the big dining table reading the newspaper, “Mornin’ Aver,”

“Morning Uncle Lawrence,”

“I think you mean _good_ morning!” Gary jumped from the hallway using Ava’s back as leverage. 

She let out a small ‘oof’ and glared at him, he was still in his pajamas.

Her uncle laughed at Gary and stood up to ruffle his hair, “Good morning to you too Gare,” 

“I thought I heard voices in here,” Nia came in holding two plates in her hands filled with eggs, bacon and toast, “Who’s hungry?”

“Morning, Aunt Petunia,” Ava greeted. 

“I’m hungry! And good morning to you too, Nia!” Gary took one of the plates and gave her a side hug. 

Both of them set the plates down and they took a seat, although Ava already ate some toast upstairs she sat down as well and accepted the freshly squeezed orange juice on the table. 

“Ava, I think you should start working with the horses today,” Nia said to her. 

Ava nodded and she looked to Gary as he started speaking with some toast in his mouth, “I’ll teach you how to ride and take care of them,” 

“Okay, when do we start?” Ava asked, sipping her orange juice slowly.

“Eight-ish? We have to clean the barn first,” 

“Sure.”

Ava spent the next hour washing her clothes in the sink and taking them up to hang in the clothesline. From the view of the balcony she also got the chance of watching the sunrise and she decided to take a picture of it on her phone. She walked back to her room and wasted time on her phone for about ten minutes after she had finished to check up on her parents and her social media before Gary came knocking on her door.

“You ready?”

“Yep,” Ava followed Gary out to the barns.

When they reached the barns, they both began putting tools back in its place and organizing the shelves. She helped Gary whenever he told her to do something and they mostly worked in silence. After about an hour of organizing, Gary looked around the place and said that they were done.

“So horses?” She asked.

“Not yet, we still have to sweep the floors.” 

He handed her a broom and they began to sweep the barn. Ava didn’t realize how dirty the floor of a barn could be until she saw all the stuff begin to accumulate. 

Not even halfway through the first section of the barn, Gary got a phone call. Ava tried her best not to eavesdrop and listen on his conversation but she heard something about someone needing help.

After the phone call ended, Gary walked towards Ava and said, “Hey, I got to go real quick. I’ll be back, half an hour tops then we’ll ride the horses, that cool?”

Ava was really in no position to say no because Gary looked too anxious for it to be just a nonchalant thing for him to not blow off, “Sure.” 

“Thank you! I’ll be back,” He ran off towards the door and left Ava alone. 

When half an hour passed and it was clear that Gary probably was going to take longer, she began sweeping his area too. The problem with his area was that it had a lot of straw and no matter what Ava did to sweep, more would keep coming. She was about to give up and wait for Gary before she jumped and dropped her broom as she heard laughter from behind her. She looked back and found the blonde girl from yesterday in dirty overalls and pigtails leaning against the doorway of the barn.

“That’s not how you do it silly.” The girl said, “You’re not cleaning anything if you let the straws go through each time you sweep,”

“This wasn’t my side to clean,” Ava looked at the ground and found that the girl was right, she had hardly been doing anything.

“And you’re holding it all wrong,” The girl walked to stand beside her and gestured for Ava to follow where her hands went, “There.”

“Thanks…” Ava looked at the girl expectantly.

“Sara,”

“Thanks, Sara.” Ava repeated, this time with her name.

“And you’re Ava, Julia’s cousin,” Sara said, “Beautiful name for a beautiful girl,”

Ava cleared her throat and tried to not let what Sara said fluster her, “Gary’s not here if you’re looking for him again,”

“I was actually looking for Nia,” 

“You know my aunt and uncle?”

“Know them? I’ve known them all my life, we’re basically family.” Sara moved away from Ava to grab the other broom on the wall and started to clean the straws with a practiced ease, “I live on the farm down the road, everyone here practically knows everybody,”

“Yeah, I’m beginning to notice that,”

“Your cousin and I used to be close,”

“Used to be?”

“Whoa there newbie, that information is a second date kinda deal,” Sara winked as she finished piling up the straw.

Ava blushed harder than before and tried to hide it behind cleaning, that didn’t stop Sara from smirking at her though.

“I’m just joking with you, Ava, there’s no special story, we just grew apart.”

“Sorry to hear that,”

“Eh, she’s happy off with Jason now so it’s not really a big deal. Plus it replaced her with you didn’t it,” Sara spun around and put the broom back up in its place.

Ava didn’t know if this girl was actually flirting with her or if it was just her normal attitude but it certainly had an effect on her. 

“Ava? Who are you talking to inside there?” Her Aunt Petunia’s voice rang from outside the barn.

Before she could reply, a second later, she came in and saw the two of them.

“Oh, I see you’ve met, Sara!” Her aunt beamed once she laid her eyes on the aforementioned girl, “And you’ve cleaned most of the straw, well done.”

“Actually Sara-”

“I just watched her do it, leant her some tips and whatnot,” She interjected before Ava could finish her sentence.

“I appreciate that, sweetie, have you come for the milk?” Nia asked.

“Yes, please. My dad’s been wanting it all morning,” 

“Tell him I said hello, and that we should do dinner soon,”

“Only if you make your delicious apple pie,”

“I’ll make it just for you, sweetheart,” Nia moved over to them, “Sara, would it be a hassle to bother you for a moment?

“Not at all, how may I help?”

“Do you mind showing Ava how to ride? Gary was supposed to but I see he’s not here,”

“I’ll give Gary a talking to when I see him, he’s probably over by the forest with Constantine.” Sara looked over to Ava and gave a small smirk, “But of course, Nia, I’d be happy to show Ava the basics of riding,”

“Thank you, sweetie,” Her Aunt Nia turned to Ava and smiled, “Sara will be showing you how to ride, are you okay with that?”

“It’s not a problem, Aunt Petunia.”

“Such a sweet girl, has anyone told you that you speak like your mother?” Aunt Nia rubbed her cheeks and Ava tried her best not to move away, “Well if you girls need me, I’ll be in the house,”

“It was nice seeing you, Nia,” Sara gave her a small hug.

“Come by later and I’ll have that milk ready for you,” 

“Thank you,”

Ava stared at the door until her aunt left. She then looked back at Sara and she was still looking at her with a smile.

“Do you not like your aunt or something?”

“Up until now they’ve always just been the family I see every third year of Christmas, I don’t actually have any reason to like or dislike them,” Ava explained.

“Huh, they talk about you though,” Sara revealed, “I think they secretly wish that Julia was more like you,”

“Like me? Why?”

“Beats me, she’s your cousin,”

Ava was about to reply that she hardly even knew her cousin at all, the only fond memory she had of them together was when they were nine and they were playing dollhouse. She decided against it though, finishing that conversation with a small hum.

“So Ava, you ever rode a horse?” Sara asked after a moment’s passed.

Ava shook her head and finished up the rest of the straws that needed to be cleaned up, “We didn’t have horses in the city,”

Sara laughed, “Well this is going to be fun then,”

After Ava put back her broom, she followed Sara out to the horse stables. Deciding that she would probably have to spend some time with Sara, Ava tired to make a conversation again, “Is your farm like my aunt and uncle’s?”

Sara glanced at her over her shoulder before replying, “You mean this big? No, Nia and Lawrence has the largest land in the area,”

“Interesting,” Ava muttered.

“You’re not really the small conversation type, are you?” Sara turned around and began walking backwards. 

“How could you tell?” 

Sara giggled and Ava tried her best not to notice how pretty her smile is.

When they reached the stables, Sara walked to the wall where Ava could see a bunch of horse stuff hung up and many other items she doesn’t know the name of in shelves.

“I don’t know how much Gary told you yesterday, or if he even explained anything, but I’m assuming you don’t know the horses yet?” Sara asked as she grabbed some stuff off the wall.

“No, he simply said that this was where the horses were,”

“Let me give you the full introduction then,” Sara moved to the first horse in the stable, “This, here, is Casper. He’s very sweet, Julia’s been riding him since way back, don’t know how she’d feel about you riding her precious horse though,”

“They have names?” Ava asked as she looked at the horse.

Sara turned around to her abruptly with an unbelievable look on her face, “Yes, Ava, they have names. We don’t call our horses, horse one and horse two,”

“Oh, sorry I meant, never mind- continue,” Ava waved her hand in an embarrassed way but tried not to let Sara know.

Sara gave her an amused smirk but didn’t dwell on it anymore, “Okay, so this stable houses the mares, mares are the females and geldings, the males that are not fit for breeding.” 

“Got it,” Ava said putting her hands in the back pockets of her jeans. 

“This beauty is Jem, she’s the youngest among all of the horses,” Sara pet the horse, “And due to that, we’re not going to let you ride her.”

“So wait, I’m going to get up on the horse and, what, ride it?”

“That is the definition of riding, yes,” Sara laughed as Ava looked at the horses, “Why? Are you scared?”

“No.” Ava immediately responded.

“Well then there’s nothing to worry about,” Sara said as she moved on to the next horse, “And lastly, this is Cookie. She’s amazing, other than Casper, Julia’s been training with her since they’ve gotten her but unfortunately her last rider overworked her and she now has a bad leg,”

“Alright,” Ava said.

“Before I show you the others, let me show you what you’ll need to ride,” Sara moved back up to the front where the items were, “In the big box you'll find saddles and saddle pads, the blankets, some reins, and the little boxes are for the horses’ medicine, shoes, buckets, and grooming supplies.”

“Okay,”

“You got all that?”

“Big box are for big things, and small box are for the small things,” Ava recounted.

“Basically, yeah.” Sara laughed, “You’ll get the hang of it, don’t worry,”

“Thanks,”

“One more thing, on the walls are halters.” She pointed to the walls, “Each halter is specific to each horse. There’s an engraving on the side, it shows the name of the horse the halter belongs to and I mean they’re color coded,”

“Okay,” Ava made a note to make sure that she would familiarize herself with the horses and their names.

“Let’s get you riding a stallion,” Sara said as she began to pick up most of the things from the boxes and a halter off the wall, “I’m sure Gary wouldn’t mind,”

“Stallion?”

“Stallions are the horses fit for breeding, we keep them separated because we don’t want any unplanned babies around here, you know,” Sara winked at Ava and stuck her tongue out.

“Yeah.” Ava pursed her lips.

“Okay, follow me,” 

Sara led her to the back and there were two noticeably larger horses than the ones in the front.

She pet the first one and he neighed at Sara, “This is Spirit, named after the great horse in the cartoon movie Spirit,”

“Never seen it,”

“You’ve- you’ve never seen Spirit?” 

“I didn’t watch cartoons growing up,”

Sara gasped audibly and her hand went to her chest, “How could you not watch cartoons as a kid?”

“It was a waste of time, my mother let me watch the cartoons on tv once and I decided I hated it,” Ava explained.

“Well, you’re going to watch Spirit, I’ve decided.”

“You’ve decided?”

“Yep, no objections,” Sara even stomped her foot down to prove her point.

Ava giggled at Sara’s adamant nature, nodded and bit her lip, “Okay,”

“Yes!” Sara did a little jump and turned to the horse, “Hear that Spirit? Ava’s going to see where you got your awesome name,”

The horse neighed and Sara laughed with it, Ava found herself laughing with them as well.

“So you’ve met Spirit, this one is Midnight,”

“Because it has black fur?”

“No, because Julia said he was born at midnight,” Sara said as she began to open his stall.

“Woah wait, I thought I was going to ride Spirit.” Ava looked at Midnight and his face looked meaner than Spirit’s, she didn’t even know a horse could look menacing.

“Spirit’s kind and all but Midnight’s been properly trained since a young age, Spirit has a playful attitude and he bucks sometimes,” Sara explained.

“Okay,” 

“Alright, first you gotta put on a halter to bring him outside, a bridle is used for riding,” Sara rubbed Midnight’s neck and took off the halter on her shoulder.

Ava watched as Sara put the halter on, trying her best to commit everything to memory, she had a feeling she had to do it alone soon. But it didn’t help when Sara was scrunching her face and Ava can’t help but think that she looked really cute doing it. Then again she didn’t want to look like a complete idiot so she tore away from watching Sara to watching the horse.

Ava reeled her thoughts and watched as Sara led Midnight out to the gate. 

“Alright, you see those wood posts, that’s where you want to tie your horse to for riding,” Sara pointed to the wooden posts.

She nodded and followed Sara to them, “This is much more complicated than I thought it would be,” 

Sara gave a small laugh, “I think you’re the type to learn fast though, so I’m not worried,” 

Once they reached the wooden posts, Sara beckoned Ava to take Midnight from her. Ava didn’t want to say anything but she was already intimidated by him, the horse looked like he could easily take Ava down if he tried. 

“Okay so tying a horse is easy, what you wanna do is tie high enough to the post that the horse cannot step over the rope, but not so high or tight that the horse can’t move its head.” Sara demonstrated how she tied Midnight and quickly undid it, “Now you try,”

“Uh okay.” Ava moved to stand in front of Midnight and he gave a huff when Ava replaced Sara’s place, she mimicked what Sara did as best as she could and when she was done, she looked at Sara who gave her a thumbs up.

“See? What did I tell you? Fast learner,” Sara smiled, “Alright now we take the halter off and put on a bridle,” 

“I’ll do it, just give me step-by-step instructions,” Ava said when Sara began to move closer to her.

“You sure?” Sara stopped.

“Yeah,” 

“Okay so first, put the bridle in your left hand then slide the nose band of the halter down over Midnight’s nose and slip the crown back up over his ears,” Sara said.

Ava tried her best to follow her steps and looked back at her when she thought she was done, “Like this?”

“Not quite, here let me show you,” Sara moved to stand next to Ava and without hesitation she took one of Ava’s hands and began to do the motions. 

Ava tried to not let herself be flustered that Sara was holding her hand, this was purely just Sara teaching her how to ride. Nothing more. But Sara’s hand was soft around hers, and she could feel the way that she does it with such comfort that Ava couldn’t help but admire her.

Sara must’ve felt that Ava wasn’t focusing because she turned to look towards her and smirked, “I know I’m attractive to look at but you should really look at what I’m doing,”

Ava blushed and turned away from Sara, “It’s not like that, you just have dirt on your cheeks,”

“You do too,” 

Upon that comment, Ava coughed and wiped her face with her shoulders as best she could. Sara let go of her hand and held it out for Ava to give her the bridle. She handed it over but instead of taking it from her, Sara just guided her left hand to secure the bridle on Midnight. 

God, she really didn’t expect to have this much intimacy with someone who’s teaching her how to ride a horse but here she was. And a little part in her mind is somewhat grateful that it was Sara teaching her to do this and not Gary. 

Ava paid attention to how Sara did it, where her hands should go and what she was doing with them. Sara talked her through it too, giving her instructions and pointers on how to properly do it. And it was over quicker than Ava would’ve wished.

“When you’ve done it a couple of times, it should be easy and eventually you’ll be able to do it in one swift motion,” Sara said as she closed the last buckle.

“Thank you for doing this,”

“Hey, what are friends for?” Sara smiled.

Ava didn’t even consider that Sara would already call her a friend, she just met her properly about an hour ago. But then she did already have a promise that she’d watch that cartoon movie with her, whether or not Sara was joking or if she’d actually follow through is another guessing game for her.

“Now it’s time to saddle up!” Sara moved away from her and took the saddle from where she placed it on the ground, “Put the blanket on him and fold it this way,” 

Ava caught the blanket that Sara threw in her direction and placed it on Midnight the way that Sara showed her, “Is this right?”

“Yep, and now put this on.” Sara handed her the saddle and Ava took it.

She put the saddle on him and Sara smoothed it over before putting on the cinch. 

“Is that it?” 

“Yep, and now you get on him,” Sara said as she stood in front of the horse, untied him from the post and checked on his legs.

“How?” Ava asked as she put on the helmet that was on the ground.

“How what?” 

“How do I get on him?” 

Sara chuckled and then crouched down next to her, “Come on, I’ll help you up,” She put both of her hands together and looked at Ava.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Ava said as she realized that Sara wanted her to step up on her hands.

“You won’t, Ava, trust me,” Sara gave her a reassuring smile.

Ava stared at her but when Sara gave her a nudge, she sighed and did as she was told. Besides, she’d rather prefer having help than making a complete fool of herself. She put one hand on Sara’s shoulder and one on Midnight, she was about to climb on when Midnight moved about an inch and made Ava lose her footing causing her to fall on top of Sara.

“Fuck, was that supposed to happen?” Ava asked as she moved off of Sara to the ground. 

“Nope, good thing you’re wearing a helmet,” Sara grumbled and sat up, dusting the dirt off her back. 

“Sorry, I told you I didn’t want to hurt you,” Ava said as she looked away, embarrassed. 

“Horses have kicked me worse than that, Ava, you didn’t hurt me,” Sara stood up in one quick move and offered her hand to help her up, “Let’s try that again.” 

Ava got into the same position but Midnight moved away again and this time Sara was quick enough to catch Ava before she could fall. 

“This is impossible,” Ava huffed, choosing not to say anything about the way that Sara was still hugging her midriff from her fall.

“Two failed attempts and you already deem riding a horse impossible?” Sara taunted as she released her. 

“Alright, let’s go again,” Ava repeated the same thing and Midnight moved away from her again.

Sara laughed as this time Ava didn’t fall from it, just simply jumped away.

"Right up until this point, I didn't even know horses could not like somebody," Ava huffed at the horse she was trying to ride.

"I think it just doesn't like you." Sara said as she finished laughing.

Ava sighed at Sara’s response and looked at Midnight again, his face was somehow teasing her to try and get up on him one more time. 

“I think it senses that you’re afraid,” Sara commented.

“I’m not afraid.” 

“You can’t lie to the horses, Ava,” Sara tapped her own head, “They know,” 

“What are you then? Some kind of horse whisperer?” 

“I should put that on my resume,” 

“Sara, the great horse whisperer from nowhere, Texas,” Ava joked.

“Hey! It’d look good on my profile,” Sara laughed at Ava and hit her on the shoulder. 

Ava smiled and tried to not notice the butterflies in her stomach that just erupted when she was making Sara laugh, if anything she would just blame it on riding the horse. It’s totally not because of Sara at all. 

“You’re stalling, am I gonna teach you how to ride or what?”

“I’m going, I’m going, if only Midnight would let me,” Ava stared at the horse once more.

“Alright, let’s try this one more time, but this time I’ll stand and hold him,” Sara said, “You can use my shoulders still,” 

“Okay, yea, let’s try that,” 

Sara held Midnight on his bridle and Ava pushed up on her shoulder to mount him, there was a brief movement where he tried to move but ultimately didn’t and Ava successfully got on him.

“Yes! Look, I did it,” Ava looked down at Sara and gave her a big smile.

“Good job, newbie,” Sara smiled back at her proudly.

“Are you going to ride a horse too?”

“Yeah, of course, how did you think I came here?” Sara asked, as if Ava just asked the most dumb question in the world.

“Right.” She really should just keep her mouth shut more often.

“I’m joking, Ava, I don’t ride my horse everywhere,”

“Of course, I knew that,” Ava muttered as she looked away.

“My horse is over by the fences, her name’s Waverider but I just call her Wave for short,”

“Waverider?”

“I didn’t name her. I bought her off a guy named Rip, he seemed attached but didn’t have the time to take care of her anymore so I bought her,” Sara said nonchalantly as if to Ava buying a horse meant that it wasn’t a big deal.

“Cool,” She bit her lip and cringed at how she sounded like Gary in that moment.

“Ready? Use both your lower legs to squeeze lightly, that cues Midnight to walk,” Sara touched her legs, “I’ll be beside you the whole time, we’re going to walk to my horse, is that okay?”

Ava nodded and did as she was told, ignoring Sara’s hands on her legs. 

“Tug lightly on the rein,” Sara said as Midnight started to move. 

Sara walked beside her and walked her through her posture. Ava couldn’t help but feel a little proud albeit a bit awkward riding a horse for the first time. She smiled unintentionally as Midnight began to move faster and the voice of Sara encouraging her urged her on. 

“You’re a natural at this,” Sara complimented as they were nearing the fences where Ava could see a white horse tied to it, “To stop, pull his reins and squeeze tight,” 

Just as Sara said, Midnight stopped when she did it and she clapped at her. 

“See? Nothing to be afraid of,” 

“I wasn’t afraid,” 

“Sure, Ms. I-fell-down-three-times,” Sara mocked as she moved to her horse and mounted it with ease, “Ready to ride?”

“I thought we were already riding,” 

“I meant running,” Sara winked, “This is where it really gets fun.” 

Ava watched as Sara pulled her reins to make Wave run, she copied her action and followed Sara out to the fields. Although she rode in front of her, Ava could see how Midnight ran a bit faster than Wave and caught up to Sara.

Sara shot her a smile when she caught Ava’s face, “Isn’t this fun?” She yelled.

“Yes!” Ava yelled back. 

They ran around the fields with their horses for awhile and Ava thought how she never felt this free in her life. She doesn’t know if it was riding with Sara or if it was simply riding a horse in general that has her feeling free but riding is really climbing up in Ava’s list of fun things to do, and it was a relatively short list. 

Sara let one hand off from her reins and used it to feel the grass beside her, she looked at Ava the whole time and Ava could feel more butterflies erupt in her stomach. She laughed as they circled around the fields. 

After some time of Sara and Ava riding together and sharing laughs, they spotted Gary in a distance waving at them with one hand. Sara led them to him and told her to slow down. When they reached Gary, Sara stopped directly in front of him while it took Ava a bit more distance to get Midnight to stop. She turned him around and walked back to where both of them were having a conversation. 

“You guys look like you were having fun,” Gary said when Ava finally stopped.

“It was really fun,” Ava admitted breathlessly.

“Glad you enjoyed it,” Sara said.

It was unfair really that Sara wasn’t disheveled like Ava, then again Sara probably rode horses on the daily basis so it would make sense that a little run like that didn’t take a toll on her.

“Well, Nia got the milk you wanted back in the house, Sara.” Gary pointed behind him to the house, “And Ray called, he said something about lunch plans,” 

“Oh shit, what time is it?” Sara looked to her wrist quickly but realized she wasn’t wearing a watch.

“Almost eleven,” Gary provided after checking his phone. 

“Shit, shit, shit, I’ll be late,” Sara looked to Ava, “This has been fun, Ava, I’m sure Gary could teach you the rest, I gotta bounce,” 

Ava tried to not let her disappointment show on her face, she brushed it off and smiled tightly, “No, yea, go. Thanks again for filling in,”

“Anytime,” Sara winked. 

And with that she rode past Ava and went out back from the fences. Ava watched her go and wondered if Ray was her boyfriend or something. She didn’t dwell on it, someone like Sara was probably taken anyway. 

“Sorry I disappeared,” Gary said as he broke her out of her thoughts.

“It’s fine, Gary,” Ava smiled.

“If you’re done riding, I could show you how to groom the horses, or did Sara cover that already?” Gary asked.

“No, she didn’t,” 

“Okay, let’s go back to the stalls,” 

They went back to the stalls and Ava tried not to think about how she already missed Sara’s presence.

-

After an eventful day of taking care of the horses, Ava was tired. Even though Gary was maybe as skilled as Sara at taking care of horses, he wasn’t a practically good teacher. It took him twice as long to explain something to Ava for her to get it right. 

She wasn’t trying to compare them but she greatly missed Sara’s teachings instead of Gary’s. 

(And it wasn’t about how Sara was conventionally more attractive or how her voice just lures Ava to listen better - no - it wasn’t like that _at all_ )

She took a hot shower to try and remove the kinks on her neck and scrubbed herself with soap longer than normal because of an incident where Midnight kicked dirt over her whole body. She’s convinced that Midnight doesn’t like her. 

All Ava wanted to do after taking her shower was to sleep on the very soft and inviting bed but her hunger stopped her from doing so and went downstairs instead to join her aunt and uncle, and Gary for dinner. 

When she went downstairs, Ava was met with four faces instead of the three she expected. The dinner was on the table, half-eaten and forgotten indicating that the fourth person probably interrupted it. 

Her aunt was standing with the man the she doesn’t recognize while her uncle was still sat on the table but listening to their conversation. And Gary was just there, still eating, not minding the conversation happening in front of him. 

The conversation stopped when her aunt saw that Ava was coming down the stairs, “Oh, Ava, perfect timing! Won’t you come here, please?” 

Ava didn’t say anything about how she was already going there in the first place. 

“Ava, dear, this is Ray Palmer, he runs the local saddlery in town.” Her aunt introduced, “So whatever you need to take care of the horses, he’s the man to find.”

The guy looked like he couldn’t be more than a few years older than Ava, but that didn’t really matter because the name rang a bell in her mind somewhere. She shook his hand and realized that he was the name that Gary said to make Sara leave from their horse riding. 

“Pleasure to meet another member of the Dawkins family,” Ray said as he shook her hand firmly. 

“Oh no dear, Ava’s from my side, she’s a Sharpe.” Her aunt filled in.

“Pleasure to meet you otherwise.” 

“You too, Mr. Palmer,”

“Oh, no, please call me Ray,” 

Ava gave him a courteous smile, one that she had practiced whenever her dad would have his friends from work come over to their apartment. She really didn’t want to assume but she could see why Sara would choose to date this man, he’s tall, his smile is contagious and he seemed like he was the type to get along with everyone. 

After introductions, she took a seat next to Gary and began to fill her plate with food.

“Well this has been fun, Nia, but I should get going,” Ray said.

“Of course, dear, and thank you again for making the delivery,” 

“Anything for you,” He turned to the table, “Bye guys!” 

Her uncle and Gary said their goodbyes while Ava chose to stay silent. Her aunt followed him out the door and returned a moment later.

“Such a sweet boy, taking after his father’s business.” Nia said to herself, “It’s a shame really how his last relationships didn’t work out,” 

“I don’t know about you, but aye hear Nate’s taken a real likin’ to him,” 

Upon her uncle’s comment, she tried not to let anyone notice the shock on her face. Maybe he really was just a friend to Sara, or there are two Ray’s in the town that she hadn’t yet met. She was really preferring the first option.

“No, Nate’s only his best friend,” Gary added.

“I recall that that was what you said about John, dear,” Her aunt laughed as Gary sunk into his seat muttering how ‘that was different’.

“Who’s John?” She asked.

“John Constantine, his boyfriend,” Her uncle teased Gary, and for a second she didn’t know who it was because of how poorly her uncle pronounced his last name.

Ava turned to Gary, now it made more sense to her why he suddenly disappeared in the morning and how the way they interacted yesterday. Regardless, Ava would never really let relationships come first before a job. 

“Sorry for not telling you, I was going to,” Gary whispered so her aunt and uncle wouldn’t hear.

“It’s fine, Gary, we’ve only known each other for a day, you’re not obligated to tell me about your relationship status.” Ava finished the last bite of her meatloaf and excused herself.

“Are you sure you don’t want seconds, Ava? There’s still plenty more.” 

“I’m fine, Aunt Petunia, thank you though,” 

After washing her dishes in the sink, she went up to her room and plopped down to the bed. She let out a groan as the cold sheets hit her skin, welcoming how it soothed her body instantly.

She picked up her phone from the bedside table and saw that she had an unknown number text her. 

[Unknown]: dont be mad but i got your number from gary  
[Ava]: Who is this?

Ava replied to the text, she probably already knew that it was Sara and was about to save the number before another text went through.

[Unknown]: its sara, horse-whisperer extrodenaire   
[Ava]: *Extraordinaire   
[Unknown]: whatever, but this is my number incase u hv trouble with the horses

She giggled and saved Sara’s name as the horse-whisperer.

[Ava]: Thanks.  
[Sara the Horse-Whisperer]: see u around, gd night!!

Ava turned her phone off after reading her message, she smiled at the thought of Sara and how much fun she had riding with her today. She fell asleep with that thought in her mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading, see you next tuesday!! comment what you thought :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry, enjoy this super long chapter though

_Authorities in rural Texas are investigating the theft of more than ten thousand dollars worth of equipment from a farm owned by a local farmer, our reporter, Jodie, is in the crime scene now with statements from the witnesses-_

Ava turned her attention away from the local news, she had finished breakfast and was now waiting on Gary to get ready. 

Her aunt had told her to learn how to take care of the chickens next, and Ava was really not excited for another full day of Gary’s teachings. She felt that even though he had taught her how to take care of the horses, there were some things she was still unsure about. And Gary didn’t respond well to her questions, he seemed like he was only telling her she was doing a good job to avoid correcting her. 

Ava sighed, she knew she couldn’t do anything about it anyway. 

(That’s a lie, she knew she could always text Sara but today was about chickens not horses)

Gary came strutting into the room half an hour later wearing jeans and a shirt that was too big on him. Ava half-wondered if the shirt wasn’t his to begin with, but the other half of her doesn’t care.

They went out to the chicken coops and Ava was mildly astounded as to how many chickens they owned after looking at them properly and not at a distance.

“There’s a lot of kitchens huh?” 

Ava gave a confusing stare at Gary for his pronunciation of chickens, “Uh-” 

“I meant chickens, it’s chickens, I know how words work, it’s just too early in the morning,” Gary yawned as he rubbed his eyes under his glasses. 

“That’s unusual, you’re usually more cheery in the morning,” Ava said as she followed Gary.

“Yeah, well, Constantine came late last night and we-”

“I do not want to hear the rest of that sentence thanks.” Ava cut Gary off immediately, her mild curiosity subsided about the shirt he was wearing. It was a little bit cute that he was wearing his boyfriend’s shirt but she really didn’t want to know any other details.

“We didn’t do anything-” 

“Shut-” 

“And if we were to, you’re like all the way on the other side of the-” 

“Gary! Chickens!” Ava interjected, her mouth set in a hard line and she gestured to the chicken coops they were in front of. 

“Right, chickens,” Gary pointed to them and started to move. 

Ava was glad that that conversation was over and that Gary was moving on to their assigned task. But she could see how talking about his boyfriend lightened up his mood. 

Once Gary had showed her how to refill the water and how to feed them, Ava struck up a conversation once more. 

“So why do you call him Constantine? Why not John?” 

“I don’t know why, honestly, he introduced himself to me as Constantine so as long as he’s happy with what he’s being called, I’m not that bothered,” Gary answered. 

Ava hummed and was happy with his answer. 

“The hens usually lay their eggs in the nest boxes so that’s where we want to collect them,” Gary explained as he demonstrated what he said.

Ava followed and put the eggs in the basket that Gary brought along. When they were done with the four chicken coops, they took the eggs they collected back to the house. 

Gary showed her how to properly clean and store the eggs, and they were done by the time lunch was being prepared by her aunt. She didn’t expect that taking care of chickens would be that quick that she had the rest of the day to plan out what she would do. 

She decided to check back on the horses. 

When she reached the stables, she didn’t expect that there would already be a person there grooming Casper. She was about to text Gary about the girl but the girl looked up and smiled at Ava’s presence.

“Hey, I’ve never seen you around before,” The girl stood up from the stool she was sitting in.

“I came here two days ago,” Ava answered. 

“Are you here to groom the horses?” She asked.

Ava nodded, she grabbed one of the brushes from the little box and went next to the girl. She might as well help her finish off brushing Casper. 

They worked in comfortable silence, the girl would occasionally hum the tune of a song while she was brushing but otherwise they didn’t say anything to each other. Ava was grateful for that, she didn’t hate small talk per se but she could do without it. As time passed, the girl noticed her technique and started to correct her. Ava accepted the tips and started to groom the horses her way and it worked way better than what she was doing before - for one, the dust doesn’t go straight to her face. 

After they finished most of the horses, a familiar voice came from the front of the room.

“Is anybody in here?” 

Ava perked at the sound of Sara’s voice, moving to stand as the girl next to her did so as well. They came out of the stall and walked towards the front of the room while Sara eyed them.

“Sara! Nice to see you here,” The girl jumped up. 

“Are you bothering the newbie, Laurel?” 

Ava frowned as Sara approached the girl, who now she knows goes by Laurel, surprised and a little jealous at their easy familiarity, “You guys know each other?”

Sara let out a little ‘tch’ while Laurel rolled her eyes at Sara, “We’re acquainted, yes,” 

“I was just helping her out, forgive me for being nice,”

Sara’s playful annoyed face has turned into a mischievous smirk, “What are you even doing here, Laur?”

“Came to pick up some milk,” 

“I picked some up yesterday,”

“And eggs, you forgot the eggs.” 

“All I’m hearing is that you’re finding an excuse to get out of doing chores,” Sara shrugged as she stepped closer to Laurel, earning her a punch in the arm.

“I think that’s what _you’re_ doing,”

“Yeah but that’s expected from me,”

Ava continued to watch their conversation and felt like she was intruding on a private moment, she didn’t know what Sara’s relationship with Laurel was but it seemed like they were close. 

“I’m going to go, nice to meet you, new girl.” Laurel waved at Ava.

“It’s Ava by the way,” She added.

“Oh! Julia’s cousin,” Laurel’s eyes lit up at the realization of who she was.

Ava was really getting tired of everyone referring to her as that, but didn’t correct her anyway. 

“And you, you better not be late for dinner,” Laurel turned to Sara and poked her on the chest.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” The affection in Sara’s voice was heavy, and Ava watched as Laurel gave a short hug and a kiss on her cheek.

“Love you,” Laurel said before walking away.

“Bye,” Sara yelled over her shoulder, red tinting her cheeks.

Now Ava was definitely uncomfortable, her stomach plunged at their obvious intimacy, and then even further when Laurel spoke one last time.

“I know you love me too, Sara,”

“Lucky you!” 

Sara sighed as the door clicked shut. Ava stood there awkwardly for a moment, wondering if she would overstep boundaries if she asked about their relationship. 

“She’s nice,” Ava went with that after a moment’s passed. 

Sara sighed again, “Yeah, she is.” 

Opening the stall, Sara held it open so Ava could step through. Ava noticed that Sara was the kind of person who does those things, even with only one whole one day of knowing her. And normally, Ava would also notice how good Sara looked doing it but now it felt like Ava was digging herself a deeper hole. 

“So you have dinner plans with her later?”

“Yeah, at our house, which she should be cleaning instead of coming here for literally no reason.” 

“Ah I see,” Ava muttered, it unsettled her that maybe Sara was apparently in a very deep relationship with the woman, so deep that they already shared a house despite Sara being only her age, then again she really shouldn’t be judgemental.

“Our dad told her to clean it up yesterday, she’s lucky he hasn’t been home yet,” Sara brushed Cookie’s tail with a bit more force than necessary. 

Ava’s eyes widened, she was grateful that she was on the other side of Sara so she couldn’t see the shock on her face, “She’s your…” She trailed off, wanting Sara to confirm her suspicion.

“My older sister,” 

Suddenly, instead of Ava feeling uncomfortable watching their interaction she found it quite cute. Ava knew her little crush on Sara was becoming more apparent, and knowing a bit more on Sara’s life wasn’t helping. 

“Was she really helping you though?” Sara asked. 

“Yes.” Ava tried Laurel’s technique for brushing the horse and found it more effective than the way Gary had taught her, “Honestly, Gary wasn’t a good teacher and Laurel helped me with the brushing,” 

“So I’m a better teacher than Gary?” 

“I mean, Gary seems like he knows what he’s doing but the way he talks makes it seem like he’s always second guessing himself, which makes me second guess myself,” Ava admitted.

Sara laughed, “He’s something else,” 

They continued to brush the horses and make small talk, Ava enjoyed Sara’s company and found that time flew by after finishing their last horse. 

“Do you usually come here often when you have nothing to do?” Ava asked as they both exited the stalls.

“Maybe I just like your company,” Sara winked.

Ava blushed and stuffed her hand into the front pockets of her pants.

“But no, I do come here often, all the neighbourhood kids do. Your aunt and uncle are really nice people and they accommodate us often,” 

“I never knew my aunt and uncle were those type of people,” Ava said.

“Yeah, they’re nice,” 

They walked back to the house and only then did Ava notice that her hands were still tightly fisted in the pockets of her pants. Sara made a beeline for the bathroom and during that time, she took her time to breathe and calm herself. 

Ava sat down in a nearby stool and looked at her phone, she replied to some messages from her mom and then scrolled through Instagram until Sara came back. 

“Are you hungry?” Sara asked when she came back, her hands were still wet and she was rubbing it on her jeans. 

Ava stood up from her stool and pocketed her phone, “Kind of?”

“If you don’t have plans, you should come with me and a bunch of my other friends to get lunch in town,” Sara invited.

Ava hesitated and Sara seemed to sense this because she stepped closer into her space. From here, Ava can see the freckles in Sara’s face and the tiny water droplets that were still there from Sara washing her face in the bathroom.

“Come on, Ava, have you even been to town yet?” Sara asked.

“No,” Ava answered, “Gary invited me but…” 

“But? Come on, I’ll show you around,” Sara insisted, “It’s either me or Gary, and really, which one would you pick?” 

Sara pointed at herself with her index finger and winked, Ava chuckled and stepped backward, “Fine,” 

“Yes! Okay, let’s go,” Sara stepped beside her and started leading them to the front door. 

When they reached outside, Ava noticed the bike parked on the fence. 

“You have a bike?”

“I do have a bike,” Sara smirked, “Horses aren’t conducive for riding to places further than the neighbourhood,”

“That’s not what I was implying,” 

Sara laughed at her and shrugged it off, they walked to Sara’s bike and she produced an extra helmet from its trunk. She handed it to Ava as Sara wore her own helmet.

“Hold tight, Ava,” Sara winked before mounting her bike, signalling Ava to sit behind her.

Ava gulped and fastened her helmet before sitting behind Sara, she put her arms around Sara’s waist and she didn’t want to hold too tightly but the moment when Sara started the engine, Ava can’t help but hold tighter. 

Once Sara actually started driving on the road, Ava put her head down to Sara’s shoulder and closed her eyes. It’s nothing like riding in a car, the fast motions were almost too fast for Ava to keep up. Sara might be going the speed limit - if there is an actual speed limit - but Ava felt like they were going to fall during every single turn they took. 

Ava lifted her head when she felt Sara slow down, she took in her surroundings and found that Sara parked in front of a store that read ‘Palmer’s Saddlery’ in a big sign. She dismounted the bike and took off her helmet, she gave it to Sara and she led her inside.

“This is is where Ray works, have you met Ray?” Sara asked as she smiled at the employees.

“Briefly,” Ava answered looking around at the various items that were in the store.

“Ray and I go way back, he moved in town when I was a kid and was in the same grade as me, and we lived close so we took the same bus,” Sara explained as she took her to the workroom where Ray’s back was turned to them and was working on something on his laptop, not noticing them coming in. 

Sara put one finger on her lips and winked at her, Ava nodded minutely and watched as Sara crept up behind him and grabbed his shoulders while she shouted, “Hey, Ray!” 

Ray jumped up and turned around fast, clutching his heart, the headphones he was wearing were haphazardly thrown on the desk when he jumped, “Sara, you scared the bejeezus out of me!” 

Sara was laughing and Ava found herself giggling at the interaction too, “Sorry, Ray, couldn’t help myself,” She shrugged. 

He shook his head but had a fond smile on his face, “Is it lunch time already?” He asked while putting his stuff away in an orderly manner. 

“Yeap, Nate texted me to get you, we’re going to Carmen’s,” Sara answered.

Ava just stood at the doorway, not wanting to interrupt them. It’s when Ray finally stood up from his desk that he noticed her standing behind Sara, “Oh, Ava, you’re here!” 

He moved around Sara to give Ava a hug, and Ava was mildly confused but figured it was his nature to do so, “Hello Ray,” She returned his hug and greeting. 

“I invited Ava to meet the gang,” Sara said.

“Good! The more the merrier, I always say,” Ray chirped as he grabbed his wallet from the desk and moved out of the room. 

Ava and Sara followed him as he said a quick word to one of the salespersons and went out the door, “Are you enjoying the farm thus far, Ava?”

“Oh yeah, it’s definitely different from where I come from - a good different though,” Ava said. 

“You’re from the city right?” Sara asked. 

“Yep, DC area, my parents-”

It was when they turned around a corner where Ava was interrupted with a distinct yell of, “Ray!”

All their heads followed the noise to a blur of a man running towards them and jumping on Ray and immediately pulling him into a hug. 

“That would be Nate,” Sara answered the question that was apparent on Ava’s face. 

He was followed by two people behind him, they were clearly unphased by Nate’s action and the girl went to greet Sara while the guy was hanging back drinking something out of his water bottle.

“Ava, this is Zari, Zari, Ava, and that’s Mick,” Sara pointed out.

Zari gave a small wave and Mick held up his water bottle, Ava waved back at each of them and waited until Nate and Ray was finished with their hug to introduce herself to Nate. 

Nate shook his hand and said, “I’m Nate, Ray’s best bro,” 

Ray laughed and pat his back, “Yep,” 

“So we’re just waiting on Amaya and Wally?” Sara asked. 

“Wally’s meeting us there,” Nate answered Sara first.

“Amaya said she had some work to finish up but yes,” Zari said. 

“Well, hope you didn’t have to wait long,” A girl came around the corner where they had just turned and Ava saw her walking towards them.

A chorus of ‘Amaya’ and ‘Heys’ were thrown out and she went around everyone to give them a side hug except herself. 

“I don’t believe we’ve met before,” Amaya said as she held out her hand. 

“I’m Ava, I just moved here,” Ava took Amaya’s hand.

“Julia’s cousin,” She smiled and replied, “Well, welcome,” 

“To Carmen’s, we go!” Nate exclaimed as he led the group and everyone started pairing off.

Ava noticed Amaya going to Zari’s side and holding her hand as they walked, Ray catching up with Nate to talk animatedly about a TV show, Mick slowly trudging along in the back, and Sara retreating to her side. 

“Well, these are my friends, they’ll get some time to get used to but you’ll learn to love ‘em,” Sara said.

“You guys all seem very close,” Ava pointed out.

“When you’ve known only these people all your life, that tends to happen,” Sara replied. 

They walked for about five more minutes until they reached a small diner that had ‘Carmen’s Diner’ written in the front. When they stepped in, the group immediately went for the table in the back corner, Ava already sensing that that was their usual spot. They all took their respective seats and Ava was left sitting at the end, next to Sara, there was still an empty spot next to Mick.

That spot was quickly filled however with a boy, younger than them Ava guessed, that came in running with a, “Sorry I’m late guys,” 

He looked at Ava with confusion written on his face, “You are?” 

“I’m Ava-” 

“Julia’s cousin!” He interrupted while pulling out the chair and sitting on it. 

Ava resisted the urge to roll her eyes, “Yep.” 

After that Amaya started to talk to Sara, so she used the time to check her phone. There were some texts from her mom, some from her aunt and some other notifications Ava didn’t care about. She felt out of place from the group because they all seemed really close to each other already, and Ava didn’t want to overstep as an outsider. Truthfully, she only came because Sara asked and she didn’t know why that made such an effect on her but saying no just seemed like it wasn’t an option for her brain. 

It wasn’t that long though before an old man came to stand by Ava’s side, she was slightly startled because she wasn’t paying attention but the minute the group all waved and said hi to him eased Ava’s tension. 

“How are my favorite group of teenagers?” The old man laughed with a deep and southern voice. “Don’t tell the others I said that,” 

“All good and well, Carmen, and yourself?” Ray replied to him with an equally enthusiastic tone.

“Good, good, I assume you’re all ordering the usual? No one’s changing their orders right?” Carmen asked. 

The group shook their head and Carmen then turned to Ava, “And who might you be, kid?” 

“I’m Ava,” Ava replied curtly, giving him a small smile. 

“What can I get for you, Ms. Ava?” 

“She’ll have what I have, Carm,” Sara spoke beside her, but Ava hardly noticed anything else because Sara put her hand on Ava’s thighs and squeezed lightly. 

She turned to her and Sara smiled as Carmen went away with a, “Okay, be back in a jiffy,” 

“Sorry, Ava, I hope you like burger, fries and a milkshake,” Sara said, removing her hand from Ava’s thigh, “It’s the best thing they have,”

“Ah debatable,” Nate interjected. 

Sara rolled her eyes and let Wally debate with Nate over hotdogs vs. burgers while speaking to Ava again, “Nate only ever eats the hotdogs here, and it’s a shame really because the burgers are way better,” 

“Yea, no, it’s fine.” Ava said, still painfully aware of the place of where Sara’s hand was just moments ago. 

She opened her phone up again and tried to reset her mind, reminding herself that she’s only known Sara for two days. She shouldn’t think of her that way, and the fact that she will probably be straight is enough for Ava to keep her mouth shut. 

“I forgot, Ava, what flavor of milkshake would you like?” Carmen asked from behind the counter, facing their table. 

“They have strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate,” Sara filled in quickly.

“Vanilla is fine, thank you,” Ava replied. 

When Ava was about to thank her, Sara had a sour expression on her face, “Vanilla, really?”

“Yeah, Ava!” Nate tried to highfive her over the table over what Ava assumed to be identical tastes in milkshake flavor, but just as Ava was about to highfive him back, he turned and shrugged her off, “Never mind, you’re too far, just you know - in heart - we have the same taste,” 

Then Nate did a thing where he pumped his heart twice and pointed at her, Ava chuckled and shook her head. 

“Really, Ava? Vanilla? Damn, and to think we were starting to become good friends,” Sara said obviously meaning it as a joke but the fact that she said ‘good friends’ had Ava’s mind reeling. 

“What are you then? A chocolate or strawberry person?” Ava retorted.

“Chocolate all the way, and most of the table agrees, except for Zari who has an addiction to sweet things so she goes for strawberry,” Sara said.

“Heard that cap,” Zari said condescendingly. 

“I’m sorry that you and most of the table is wrong then,” Ava said without a filter, and immediately all of the table ‘ooh’d. 

Nate backed her up by saying, “She got you there cap,”

“Well, once you taste the chocolate milkshake, I think you’ll be eating your words,” Sara countered. 

“We’ll see,” Ava smirked. 

Zari then looked at her and chuckled, “I like you, Ava, didn’t think you had it in you,” 

“What can I say, you can’t judge a book by its cover,” Ava replied and to that everyone in the table laughed. 

After that scene, Ava felt more comfortable interacting with the others. She found out that Amaya is studying to become a vet and is currently interning at one while starting classes at University of Houston next semester, Zari is currently running the town’s mechanic workshop after she learnt that the last guy, Jax, moved out to start a family in the city but is also going to college next semester for engineering, Nate works at the town’s library and is going to study history at University of Texas, Ray is going to Texas A&M for engineering but is also still going to run his father’s business, and her suspicion was right when she found out that Wally’s still in his last year of highschool, she didn’t get any definitive answers from Mick but she’s also scared to ask so she left him alone.

It was during their talk that Sara seemed uncharastically quiet, she was about to ask what Sara’s plans were thinking that Sara was just giving her time to get to know the others but Carmen came back, just as she was about to ask, with their food. 

“Alright, here you guys are,” Carmen said holding a tray full of food on one hand and milkshakes in the other. 

They all said their thanks and her hunger was enough distraction for Ava that she forgot what she was going to ask to Sara.

She ate her fries first and saw Sara dipping her fries in her milkshake, Sara must’ve sensed that Ava was looking at her and raised an eyebrow, “What? Never seen someone dip their fries into a milkshake, Ava?”

“Not exactly, no, I mean I know it’s a thing but I’ve never seen anyone do it in real life,” 

Sara gaped and took one of her fries, dipped it in her milkshake and held it out in front of Ava, “Try it.” Her voice left no room for reasoning so Ava cautiously took a bite of the fry and chewed it.

It was - okay, Ava thought and that was exactly what she said, “It was okay, it just made the fries soggy and cold though, but I can see the appeal,” 

“What’s it out of ten?” Sara asked, popping the unfinished fry into her mouth.

Ava stared for about three seconds at what Sara just did, but quickly made up a number in her head, “Uh, I don’t know, six?” 

“Fair enough,” Sara said as she turned back towards her food. 

After that, the table quieted down as everyone enjoyed their food. When Ava was done and were just sipping the last bits of their milkshakes or eating the last bits of their fries, Carmen came by again and talked with the group for a bit before giving everyone their bills. 

Ava was reaching for her wallet but Sara snatched her check away before Ava could say anything about it. 

“I got this one, Ava,” Sara said.

“Wait, what? Sara, you don’t have to,” Ava tried to convince her.

“I invited you out for lunch, it’s fine, Ava,” Sara said, “And it’s hard to pay when you don’t know how much you have to pay,” 

Ava requicised and let Sara pay for her, “Okay, but next time, I’m paying for yours,” 

“Next time?” Sara asked teasingly.

Ava was about to explain herself but Sara laughed at the worry on her face, “I’m just kidding, Ava, I didn’t know if you wanted to hang out with this group again, they can be a lot at times,” 

And of course, Sara was thinking of it as a group context, while Ava stupidly didn’t think of the group when she said that, “No, yea, they’re cool.”

“See? Aren’t you glad I dragged you out now?” Sara asked.

“I don’t know, Gary’s offer sounded really nice…” Ava teased back.

“Jerk,” Sara gasped, slapping Ava lightly with the checkbook.

They laughed and when Carmen was finished with everyone’s checks, they went out of the diner and the group split off there. She was left with Sara and Ray walking back to Ray’s shop where Sara’s bike is parked. 

They waved their goodbyes to Ray, and once again, Ava was met with Sara’s bike. The ride back didn’t seem that bad now that Ava knew what she was expecting, her stomach dropped on a couple of turns and if Ava let out a slight sigh of relief after finally getting off - well, she just hoped that Sara didn’t catch that.

“It’s been fun, Ava,” Sara said after walking her to the front door, still holding her helmet to her side. 

“Thank you for inviting me, I enjoyed my time,” Ava said.

“I hope my friends didn’t overwhelm you,” 

“No, they were fine,” Ava reassured. 

“Glad to hear it then, see you tomorrow?” Sara asked.

“I’ll be here,” Ava said as Sara did a salute at her and turned around for her bike.

Ava watched Sara drive off before finally retreating back to the house. 

“Was that Sara?” Gary asked, appearing out of nowhere and giving Ava a small scare.

“Jesus, Gary! Don’t sneak up on me like that,” Ava chided.

Gary put his hands up in front of him and mumbled a quiet sorry and continuing his question, “But was that Sara though?” 

“Yes, it was,” Ava answered quickly, going to the main living room. 

“Where’d you guys go?” Gary asked again.

“She invited me out for lunch,” 

“Like a date?” 

Ava was grateful that her back was turned to Gary so he couldn’t see the slight pink that rose to her cheeks, “No, Gary, it was with a bunch of her friends,” She replied trying to keep her calm. 

“Oh, I see,” 

“Don’t we have work to do? Horses to feed?” Ava asked hurriedly, trying to change the topic to something other than Sara. 

“Well, your uncle and I already took care of most of the stuff today when you texted them that you were going out,” Gary explained.

“Shit, why?” Ava turned to him, suddenly feeling bad about leaving.

“It’s no big deal, we usually have set times to do stuff, and they said it’s good for you to go out and see the town,” Gary said, “But we still have some cleaning to do if you’re up for it,” 

“Yea, I can do some cleaning,” Ava said, hoping that work will take her mind off of Sara. 

After they have finished the cleaning for the day, Ava found that it was already evening. She was out in the patio, having finished cleaning it and letting Gary take back the equipment back to storage. She looked at the sunset and took out her phone, snapping a quick picture of the view and putting it on her snapchat story with a location filter on it.

Ava put her phone back in her pocket and decided to shower and clean up herself before dinner. When she was out of the shower, her phone had new snapchat messages from her old friend Nora. Nora and her were friends in highschool but when things with her dad got worse in junior year, she was forced to move out of town. 

Realization dawned upon Ava that Nora was moved to her aunt’s house in Texas, she quickly opened the snapchat message from her and found exactly what she was hoping for.

* * *

**Snapchat**  
[Ava Sharpe]  


TODAY

  
**NORA**

> ⃞ Opened  
>    
>  You didn’t tell me you were in the same town as me!!!

  
  
**ME**

> I didn’t know! We should meet up, sometime.  
>    
>  I miss you.

  
  
**NORA**

> I miss you too, I’m free in the weekend?

  
  
**ME**

> Sounds good. :)

  
  
**NORA**

> 🖤

  


* * *

Ava closed the chat and smiled as she reminisced about memories that she had with Nora. She would argue that Nora was her best friend throughout high school despite the fact that they’d only known each other for the three years that Nora was there. It broke Ava’s heart that Nora had to leave but she understood the circumstance she was in. 

It honestly completely passed Ava’s mind that Nora might be in the same town as her but knowing that fact now got Ava excited to see her again. 

She went downstairs to dinner with a smile on her face. 

The rest of the weekdays hadn’t been eventful to Ava, she hung out with Sara riding horses a bunch of times but it was mainly her doing the work she came here to do. The only noteworthy thing happening to her was when her aunt asked her to get Gary for dinner and when she opened the door to his room blindly, she was met with a shirtless John and a pantless Gary making out on Gary’s bed. She closed the door harder than intended trying to get the image out of her head, she shuddered when she remembered it. 

When Ava woke up on Saturday, she was excited because she had plans with Nora later in the day to meet up. They had been texting back and forth again like old times, and Ava realized how much she had missed her best friend. 

She knew she had woken up extra early so she took the time to go for a run along the back of the house, after she’d return she saw it was only seven and decided she would shower before going to breakfast.

After her shower, she went downstairs and was quite confused on why Zari was sitting on the table and not her aunt, uncle and Gary. 

“Zari?” She asked when she reached the bottom steps.

Zari looked up from her phone and waved at her, “Morning Ava,” 

“What’re you doing here?” She asked as she walked over to her.

“Gary didn’t tell you?” 

Ava shook her head.

“Every first Saturday of the month, we have pancake Saturdays, which is a stupid name because literally we don’t even cook pancakes anymore but once upon a time we used to,” Zari explained.

“And?” Ava motioned for her to continue.

“ _And_ all of us cook together for breakfast, your aunt and uncle’s kitchen is the biggest one out of all of us so they let us do this because coincidentally every first Saturday of the month is also when they have to serve in the church early in the morning until late afternoon so ta-da we’re here,” 

“So everyone is in the kitchen right now?”

“Except Mick, he always comes just for the food, we let him try and help us cook once but let’s just say the black residue on the kitchen wall speaks for itself,” Zari said.

“Why are you not in the kitchen?” 

“Had to take a phone call, I’m going back right now if you want to join?” 

“Sure,” 

When Ava walked into the kitchen, she didn’t know what to expect but it was overtly chaotic than it needed to be at eight in the morning.

Ray was cooking something in the pan and recoiled when burning oil got on his arm, Nate and Gary was arguing over something in front of the open fridge, Constantine was frustrated at the coffee machine when it wouldn’t work, Wally was mixing something in a bowl while simultaneously looking at something on his phone, Sara was chopping up some vegetables beside him humming and Amaya was calmly cutting bread in the kitchen island.

To top that, absurdly loud music was playing in the background as well through a black portable speaker. 

Zari immediately went by Amaya’s side, and Ava saw the quick kiss Amaya gave Zari on the cheek and Zari’s arm on Amaya’s waist as they talk quietly to themselves.

“Ava!” Sara shouted over the music as she saw her, “Come help cook!” 

She went to Sara and asked, “What do you need help with?”

“I think Amaya’s almost done cutting the bread, can you get milk and eggs and dip the bread in them? It’s for the French toast,” 

Ava nodded and moved to the fridge, she slid past the two boys to get milk and interjected their conversation with a quiet, “You should keep the fridge closed until you finish deciding whether to get turkey or chicken sausage,” Before she closed the fridge herself. 

She got eggs from the shelf and put them down beside Sara to get a bowl from the cupboard. 

When she got all the stuff she needed, she started beating the eggs and pouring the milk in it. 

“Here, wait, before you start putting bread in it,” Sara wiped her hands on a rag and left Ava’s side to go get something. 

She returned with some sugar and sprinkled some in Ava’s bowl and Ava nodded in agreement, “Good choice,” 

Sara pointed a finger gun at her and went back to chopping vegetables while Ava began to dip the slices of bread she got from Amaya. 

“What’re your plans for the day? If you’re free, some of us are going to the creek to explore,” Sara said.

“The creek?” Ava questioned.

“There’s a creek behind the woods that your uncle and aunt own that’s like their property even though the town owns the other parts, the town’s been begging for them to release it for years but they don’t want to,” Sara said, “So sometimes we go there and just go down and see how far we can explore,” 

“Isn’t that dangerous?” 

“Oh yeah, I’ve gotten a stomach bug that wouldn’t go away for weeks when I accidentally slipped and drank the water,” Zari said. 

“I got bitten by a fish and risked losing my leg from an infection,” Ray chimed in.

“I almost got bitten by a poisonous snake if I hadn’t been fast enough to dodge it,” Nate continued.

“A boar bit me in the nipple, I still have the scar if you want me to show it to you,” Gary added ready to take his shirt off to prove it, and at that Sara stopped them.

“But those were only in the rare times it ever happened, the other times we went we never had anything happen to us,” Sara tried to convince her, “It’s a lot of fun, Ava, promise.” 

“Yea, no thanks, partly because I don’t want any of those things happening to me and also I have plans with someone later today,” Ava said.

“Oh, with who?” 

“She was my close friend in high school and she moved to here in our last year,” 

“What’s her name?” 

“Uh,” Ava hesitated.

“It’s a small town, Ava, even if you didn’t tell us we could find out by process of elimination,” Sara said.

“Her name’s Nora Darhk,” Ava answered.

“Nora Darhk? She was in my calculus class,” Ray said, “I always wanted to get to know her but she seemed distant so I didn’t push,” 

Seems like Nora, Ava thought. 

“Yea, she hangs out with my cousin’s friends,” Amaya said, “She came over to our house a few times for group projects,” 

“Kuasa?” Sara asked.

“The one and only,” 

“You know Nora?” 

“I mean, my cousin knows her better but yea I know of her, she didn’t speak a lot and always seemed to dislike our group for how rowdy it is so we didn’t get a chance to talk but from what I know she’s nice,” Amaya shrugged.

“I can drive you if you want, where are you guys meeting up?” Sara asked.

“It’s fine, Sara, I was going to Uber,” Ava answered.

“Ricky’s out of town though,” Zari said.

“Ricky?” 

“The town’s sole Uber driver, other than that, good luck finding them out here Ava, it’s not like in the city where you have to wait only three minutes, you’ll be lucky if you get one in three hours,” Sara said.

Ava’s eyes widened, she didn’t want Sara to drive her all the way to where Nora’s meeting her but she also trusted them that there’s really no Uber drivers in the area. 

“Fine, but I’ll pay for your gas,” 

“You don’t have to-”

“I’ll pay for your gas, Sara,” Ava said as she turned to face her. 

“Okay, sheesh, if you want to waste money that badly,” Sara put her hands out. 

An hour later, when they were finished with preparing breakfast and putting the stuff out into the dining room, Mick came in like clockwork.

“Hi Mick,” Ava greeted. 

Mick grunted and sat down. 

They ate and talked to each other comfortably. When everyone was close to finishing their food, everyone started to take out their phones. Ava looked confused as they also started to turn on their ringers on and putting them in the middle of the table, except Mick. 

“Put yours in Ava,” Ray said.

“What for?” Ava asked but took her phone out anyway and turned on her ringer before putting it in the middle of the table like the rest of them. 

“Clean up duty, the two phones that ring first help Mick to clean up the food,” Wally answered, “Mick being the exception because we all cooked and he didn’t,” 

Ava nodded and said, “That’s fair I suppose,” as she continued eating, hoping that no one would text her or it ringing became of some stupid notification coming from one of her apps. 

Not even three minutes later, Nate’s phone chimed with a notification, “Dang it,” He said as he took his phone and looked at the notification, “It was my news app, they found out who was behind the theft from Mark’s farm,” 

Ava recognized something like that happening from the news she watched a few days ago and was thankful that her news app didn’t go off. 

It was towards the end of breakfast that Gary’s phone dinged with a notification that Ava recognized as the Mail sound, “Shit that’s three times I’ve been on dish duty,” Gary resigned as he took his phone, he was beside her and Ava saw the familiar Mail icon on his phone. 

Five seconds later, Sara’s phone rang from a call and Gary exclaimed, “Oh come on!” While Sara laughed and stuck her tongue out at him.

She answered the call and smiled, “Thank you, Laur, for literally calling me in the exact right timing,” 

When it was time for Nate, Mick and Gary to clean up the table, Ava stood up from her seat and checked the time from her phone seeing that it was already eleven thirty. She agreed to meet Nora at a mall that was twenty minutes from her aunt and uncle’s farm at one pm. 

Ava noticed Sara coming over to her, “... also are you going anywhere this afternoon?” said Sara, “Good, I’m taking the car… You _just_ said you’re not doing anything today,” 

She started to mouth ‘it’s okay’ to Sara but Sara but a hand up to silence her, “Okay, what if I drop you at Ollie’s and then take the car? - what do you mean no?” Sara said frustratingly.

“Sara it’s really okay-” Ava started.

“What time do you have to be there? One? Okay, take the car, I’ll take my bike to Ollie’s and take the car from there,” Sara reasoned to Laurel, “Okay, bye,” 

Sara ended the call with her sister and looked at Ava, “Well, now that that’s sorted out, where did you need to go again?”

“The mall that’s twenty minutes from here but, Sara, it’s really okay if your sister wanted the car, you don’t have to drive me, I know you wanted to go to the creek” Ava said.

“What are your other choices? Wait for Nia and Lawrence to come back from church? They usually only come back at four or five,” Sara said, “And besides, I need to go clothes shopping anyway, we can go to the creek another time,” 

“Did you say clothes shopping?” Amaya piped in from across the room.

“Please no,” Zari whined, but Amaya whispered something in Zari’s ear that immediately had Zari blushing while slapping her arm, “Shut up,”

“Could we come with?” Amaya asked. 

“Sure, you guys chipping in on gas too?” Sara asked jokingly referring the Ava’s statement. 

“You suck,” Ava rolled her eyes. 

“If you’re going to the mall, Sara, can you take me as well? I need to get some stuff too,” Ray asked.

“Alright, we leave when I get back from Ollie’s with the car,” Sara said leaving the house. 

Ava got her stuff ready and by the time Sara came back it was already just before twelve thirty. The ride to the mall was interesting, she sat in the passenger seat with Ray, Amaya and Zari in the back. Sara’s playlist was playing softly in the background while Zari and Ray were bickering over something in the back. It was weird how their group accommodated Ava so quickly, she didn’t think coming here would be any other beneficial than paying off her tuition. But each passing day, Ava was proven to be wrong. 

Especially when Sara was around, she was so grateful that Sara was friendly to her. There was no one else that she’d let be _that_ affectionate to her in a short amount of time, but somehow even with just a week of knowing Sara, Ava was already comfortable of being open with her. Ava pretended not to notice how good Sara looks either, one of her hands was on the steering wheel while the other was on the armrest of the car door, she was quietly singing to the song playing and smiling as she caught quick glances from the rearview of her mirror of her friends. She was dressed comfortably with simple jeans and a t-shirt, it wasn’t anything Ava hadn’t seen before but somehow it still managed to take her breath away.

And a part of Ava was scared that she was getting too deep too quickly, she had only known Sara for a week, a part of her thinks it’s unethical for her to think about Sara that way. But as Sara looked at her briefly saying, “What’re you staring at?” She lost all of her thoughts immediately.

She mumbled a quick, “Nothing,” As her heart rate sped up from being caught staring at Sara. 

After that incident, Ava focused hard on looking only to her side of the window and seeing the unfamiliar highway they were driving on and shops passing by. But, really, her mind was still thinking about Sara. 

She succeeded as Sara pulled up into the parking lot of the mall. 

“Alright, gang, we’re here, Laurel needs the car back by seven so meet me back here at six, if you get done faster just call me or go to the food court,” Sara said before they opened the door. 

“Aye aye cap,” Zari replied as she and Amaya went out one door, and Ray the other. 

Just as Ava was moving to do the same, Sara reached out and stopped her by grabbing her arm, “If you want to stay longer than six, I’m sure your aunt and uncle can pick you up by then or Nora can drive you back. If there’s really no other options, just call and I’ll come get you, okay?” 

Ava nodded, “I’ll probably be done before six, if not, I’ll let you know. Thank you for driving here,” 

“Anytime,” Sara said as she closed her car door.

“Careful with that, before you know it, I’ll call you at two am in the morning to drive me to Mcdonalds or something,” Ava joked.

“No joke but I would be down for that,” Sara said shrugging. 

“I was kidding, Sara,” 

“I wasn’t!” 

Ava sighed but smiled anyway.

She and Sara split up once they got inside, she texted Nora that she arrived and waited in front of a coffee shop. Five minutes later, she heard her name being called, “Ava!” 

Ava turned around and saw Nora standing there, she quickly bounced over to her and gave her a tight hug, “Nora! Jesus, it feels like forever since I last saw you, but also not at the same time,” 

“I feel that,” Nora smiled as she let go of Ava’s hug, “Your hair grew longer, it’s not noticeable in the snaps you send me,” 

“I didn’t cut it since last summer, I think,” Ava said. 

They began to catch up with each other and it felt good to have Nora with her again. She secluded to being alone for a while after Nora left, she still had friends but it wasn’t the same as what she formed with Nora. Only with her did Ava find solace in talking about her relationships with her parents, of her coming out, just anything she had problems with. Nora confided in her as well, finding Ava as a safe person to talk to about her family, mostly topics like her dad being a well sought-out criminal. 

The both of them still called and texted each other a lot and Ava still considered her as her closest friend, but it wasn’t the same as her actually being present. 

“Tell me about your life, I mean I know everything already but just, god, Ava, I just miss you so talk about everything and nothing,” Nora said. 

Ava’s heart melted a bit and ranted about the story of how she felt like she was going to die the first time she rode a motorcycle, Nora laughed at her story and continued with one of her own. They continued like that for a while, exchanging stories, laughing with each other, going into stores but not actually buying anything, talking or teasing animatedly about each item. 

Ava hadn’t felt this carefree in a while, it was nice to just banter on with someone that you trust completely. 

“So you’re staying in your aunt and uncle’s place?” Nora asked as she looked at a shirt on display.

“Yeah, I’m getting really tired of getting recognized as ‘Julia’s cousin’ though,” Ava sighed.

Nora held up the top to her body and silently posed Ava a ‘yes or no’ for the top but continued with their conversation, “Must be hard,” 

“Literally any time I say ‘Hi, I’m Ava’ they don’t even give me a chance to tell them my last name and already recognizing me as Julia’s cousin,” Ava nodded at the top, but grew frustrated with her voice, “It’s annoying really,” 

Nora slung the top over her arm and looked towards other ones as Ava followed her, “Oh, I meant to ask you this while you were telling your story but I got distracted, anyway, who did you ride a motorcycle with?” 

“Sara Lance, heard of her?” Ava said nonchalantly. 

Nora stopped looking at the jeans and turned around to face Ava, “Sara Lance let you ride her precious bike?” 

“Precious bike?” 

“It was a big thing last year about how Sara got a bike, none of her friends could ride it and she treats that bike like her baby,” Nora explained, “The only other person I’ve seen ride that bike with her is her sister,” 

At that Ava was left confused, if Sara had made a big deal about it, then why did Sara let her ride the bike. Logically, Ava assumed she got over the phase and started to let people ride the bike with her and it was the only transportation they had at the time. But part of her also wanted to believe that she was special in Sara’s eyes, she doesn’t know why but the feeling of it left a tingly feeling in her heart. 

“Probably got over it or something,” Ava shrugged.

“Also, you’re friends with Sara Lance?” Nora asked disbelievingly. 

“Yes?” 

“Her and her group of friends are the most obnoxious people I’ve ever encountered, how can you handle them?” 

“I find it endearing, sure, they’re loud but they’re also amusing to watch,” Ava snickered remembering a memory, “On Wednesday, Sara challenged Wally into a race on who can touch all the cows in the field the fastest, Wally won by far but it would’ve been closer if Sara hadn’t literally ran into one,” 

“You find that entertaining?” 

“Watching someone fall down because they hit face first into a cow’s ass isn’t funny to you?” 

Nora snorted, “Well when you put it that way,” 

“Do you not like their group?” Ava asked.

“It’s not that I don’t like them, they were probably the most popular group in school, they always drew attention to themselves,” Nora huffed, “Everyone who saw their group knows that Sara’s the leader, she was the captain of the soccer team and was co-founder of the archery club that’s now competing regionally, Zari was her co-captain in soccer and a computer science genius, I heard a rumor that if you gave her enough donuts she would hack into the school system and change your grade,” 

“What?” Ava was now intrigued at learning more about Sara’s friends, “Keep going,” 

“Oh don’t worry I have a lot more, Amaya was literally an animal goddess in the FFA club, people thought that she could actually talk to animals. Not to mention the attention they got when Zari featured her homecoming proposal to Amaya on the school news,” 

“Zari did that?” 

“Yep, uncharacteristic, I know,” Nora continued, “Anyways, Nate was the student government secretary along with debate team president, Mick was a well known anomaly as the kid who got into trouble so much but was still able to escape expulsion time and time again, I’m convinced that our principal just wants him to graduate and not deal with him anymore,”

“Why am I not surprised by that?” Ava chuckled.

“Then Wally is literally the fastest kid in our district, he was able to beat the school record in his junior year, and I think that’s it,” Nora said, “Is there anyone I’m forgetting?” 

“Ray?” Ava answered as Nora sighed.

“Ray’s the science expert, he was the guy you go to for any help on science problems, he won so many science awards that he got recognition from the school, he’s probably the only one I would consider my friend in that group,” 

“Why?” 

“He was in my calculus class and he often helped me with the problems I couldn't solve, I don’t exactly know why he’s in that group other than the fact that him and Sara have known each other a long time but he’s a really nice guy,” Nora explained, “We talked outside of school sometimes, I wanted to genuinely get to know him but every time I see him outside of class it was with his other friends so,”

“Uh huh,” Ava smirked at Nora realizing the expression on Nora’s face, “You have a thing for Mr. Nice Guy?” 

“What? No, Ava stop, ew,” Nora scrunched her face to look disgusted at what Ava had just said but Ava poked Nora’s side, “Literally shut up, Ava,” 

“I’m not even saying anything,” 

Ava laughed when Nora poked her back with the clothes hanger and they both attacked each other with various store items as it turned into a war, Ava backed out first saying sorry to her. Nora shook her head and gave her one last poke before relenting as well. 

“You know, Ray’s here in the mall somewhere, we could meet him if you want,” Ava said as he remembered Ray riding in the car with her.

“He is?” Nora asked quickly. 

“Hold your horses, Darhk,” Ava calmed Nora down as they returned the items to their respective displays and went out of the store. 

Ava pulled out Ray’s number on her phone and texted him to see where he was, he replied momentarily that he was just going back to Sara. She texted him back saying that Nora wanted to see him, and the meet them in front of the store they just went out of. Ray agreed not even five seconds after Ava sent the text.

“He seems eager,” Ava said, letting Nora see Ray’s texts with her, “How long has it been since you last saw him?”

“I went to his shop like a few days ago, we said hi,” 

“Saucy.” Ava winked.

Nora tried to hit her arm but Ava moved away while laughing, Nora followed her but Ava was fast to dodge her hits, she saw Ray coming from behind Nora and pointed it out, “Oh, here he comes,” Ava said.

She grabbed Nora’s shoulder and turned her around as Ray was coming up behind her. 

“Hi guys!” He greeted cheerily, holding a shopping bag in his hand, “Nora, always nice to see you,” 

“Likewise, Ray,” Nora said.

Ava looked between the two and saw that they weren’t going to say anything else to each other, and helped her friend out a bit. 

“So, Ray, what did you buy?” 

“Ah, unfortunately when Sara scared me in the shop that one time, my headphones broke so I had to buy new ones,” Ray said.

That seemed to ease Nora a bit as she started to make conversation with Ray, she stepped back from the pair seeing that both Nora and Ray clearly had undermined their relationship. Nora was doing the thing that Ava only had seen her do once before for Junior prom when Jake asked her out, where she looked fondly up at the guy with her eyes in a close proximity making her look small but it was her charm. 

Ava gave them space and looked around other stores while they caught up on what their conversation. After about ten minutes, Ava returned to them when Nora called. She joined in their conversation and went to a coffee shop to talk more. 

She liked talking to both Nora and Ray, she could tell that Nora wasn’t putting so many walls up with Ray like she did with everyone else. It was nice seeing her like that, at least she knew that she wasn’t completely alone the year that she wasn’t with Ava.

There have been nights early when Nora moved away when Ava would wake up from Nora’s call at 3am and had to listen to hear her cry and say that she hated moving and that she wanted to go back. It broke Ava’s heart, but eventually those calls lessened and Ava could understand why now. 

When Ray got up, he sneakily took a picture of them together and it caught them off guard but the picture turned out really good and he sent it to the both of them.

Eventually, it got close to six already and Ray pointed out the time. Ava was getting tired and Ray left first to find Sara, leaving Nora and Ava alone.

When Ray got out of their eyesight, Ava sent a mischievous grin to Nora and without even looking at Ava, Nora said, “Not a word, Sharpe.” 

Ava laughed but didn’t say anything. They both got up and Ava sighed, “It was really nice seeing you again Nor,” 

“You too, Ava,” 

They hugged and both went their separate ways.

“See you soon, yea?”

“Of course,”

Ava met Sara, Ray, Zari and Amaya back at the food court, and they went back to the house. The car ride back was interesting as all of them sang a bad rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody when it came on from Sara’s phone. They laughed as Ray tried to hit the high notes, and Sara jerked the car a little as she moved with the beats. Ava was laughing more than she was singing, and she can’t help but pay attention to Sara particularly. The way she was so carefree, with the windows down, one arm out of the car, singing with her friends. Ava never experienced this kind of casual friendships - always focusing on school first instead of friends. She didn’t mind it though, in fact, she actually liked it.

(And maybe the fact that Sara winked at her after singing a lyric had something to do with it too)

When they reached the house, tired from singing their voice out, they went to the kitchen and got some drinks before moving to the living room. They stayed for a while and chatted with Ava’s aunt.

“Did you have fun with your friend, dear?” Her aunt asked from the couch.

“Yea, it was really fun seeing Nora again after a year, I’d forgotten how much I missed hanging out with her,” Ava replied.

“That’s nice, and what about you all, did you have a fun time shopping?”

The group then went in turn to share their stories and what they bought with her aunt, and Ava let them continue their conversation while she rested on the couch. Sara sat next to her and was on her phone texting someone Ava couldn’t see the name of. 

“Hey, thanks again for driving, it means a lot,” Ava said to Sara.

“Of course, Ava, it really wasn’t a problem,” Sara replied, locking her phone and shifting so that her body was faced to Ava.

“Did you know Ray and Nora have something going on between them?” Ava asked.

Sara chuckled and looked fondly at Ray, “I figured something was going on with them last year, Ray told me that he was going to ask Nora to prom but she told him that she didn’t want to go or something like that,” 

“They met today and it was cute seeing them, they were doing heart eyes to each other,” Ava said, recognizing that she was doing it to Sara as well.

“Really? I have something to tease Ray about later then,” Sara smirked. 

“What are we teasing Ray about?” Zari said as she popped in behind Sara putting her arm over her shoulder. 

“Nothing, don’t be nosy, Z,” Sara said as she slapped the arm that was over her shoulder.

Zari recoiled and took back her arm but not before pushing Sara lightly, “As your best friend, I’m allowed to be nosy,”

“Whatever,” Sara rolled her eyes.

Ava laughed at their interaction and looked over to Ray who was on his phone and smiling every so often. If Sara was going to tease Ray, there’s no harm in her teasing Nora as well.

She pulled up her phone and opened Snapchat, she took a picture of Ray smiling to his phone and sent it to Nora. 

When she finished sending the picture, Sara got a call from her phone and left the living room. Ava saw that it was already eight and said goodbye to her aunt, Zari, Amaya and Ray. She passed Sara just as she finished her call. 

“Hey, you going to your room?” She asked.

“Yea, I’m going to take a shower and just relax, probably,” Ava said.

“Okay, see you tomorrow, Ava,” Sara hugged her and went back to the living room.

* * *

**Snapchat**  
[Ava Sharpe]  


TODAY

  
**NORA**

> ⃞ Opened [A picture of Ray on his phone.]  
>    
>  Ava Sharpe, I will end you

  
  
**ME**

> 😂😂  
>    
>  Sorry Nor

  
  
**NORA**

> 🙄

  


* * *

**Instagram**

[Photo: A picture of Ava and Nora in a coffee shop laughing, both of them not looking at the camera as it was being taken.]

 **noradarhk** It was nice seeing this one again after a year. Love you @avasharpe

liked by **avasharpe** , **jiwekuasa** , **raypalmers** and **109** others

**avasharpe** Love you back Nor!  <3

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also i added ray/nora bc i started watching s4 and i love them


End file.
